


Watching Kakashi

by water_bby



Category: Naruto
Genre: 5 Times, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 07:26:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/877182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/water_bby/pseuds/water_bby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five Times Gai Watched Kakashi Watch Iruka (and one time he didn't).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watching Kakashi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [emmykay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmykay/gifts).



Maito Gai did not know when it started. He was not even sure when he first saw it. But he remembered when he first noticed that Hatake Kakashi was haunting the Mission Room. Not that it was unusual for a jounin to hang out in or near the Mission Room, either waiting for an assignment to come up or just collecting the latest gossip, but Kakashi was not participating in the chatter around him. Instead, he was just leaning against the wall, reading one of his ever-present novels. Except he was leaning against a wall that allowed him to keep an eye on the Mission Desk itself without anyone being able to tell just who or what he was looking at. Gai moved forward with the line, trying to figure out what or who Kakashi was watching, but he had yet to find to an answer when his attention was distracted by the shift change at the desk. When he finally turned to look at Kakashi again, the other man had vanished.

* * *

The one person Gai did not expect to see when he arrived at the Mission Room with his new genin team was Kakashi. But there he was, standing in line to turn in his latest mission report. Gai let himself search his best friend for injuries but could see none. Why was Kakashi here, then? Gai knew that the other man had returned to Konoha from his most recent mission that morning; there was no reason he should be here in the late afternoon, report in hand. As the line moved forward, Gai recognized the chuunin taking new reports as Unimo Iruka, who also taught at the Academy.

Oh. Iruka-sensei had been on shift every time Gai had seen Kakashi just hanging out in the Mission Room for weeks. And Iruka-sensei was the only person who had been on all those shifts.

Gai kept one eye on Kakashi and one on his own students. This could get interesting.

* * *

The next time Gai saw Kakashi simply hanging out in the Mission Room, he sent his genin team to stand in line to receive their latest D-rank mission and went to lean against the wall by Kakashi, who shifted over the bare inch needed to make room for Gai on Kakashi's blind side. Iruka-sensei was, no surprise, behind the desk. He was also filleting an unwary jounin who had, apparently, not completed the cover sheet for his mission report adequately. Gai was not really interested in just what his fellow jounin had or had not done; he was interested in the way Kakashi's breathing had the careful mechanical rhythm of someone who was actually thinking about controlling his breathing.

"Iruka-sensei is quite good at his job, is he not!" Gai enthused.

"Umm-hmm," Kakashi acknowledged.

Gai smirked. "MY ETERNAL RIVAL!"

The look Kakashi gave him was more than usually unhappy at the shouted address.

* * *

Over the months of watching Kakashi watch Iruka, Gai had decided that his friend would probably never actually do anything about his crush. So it surprised him the day that Kakashi arrived at the Mission Room with Iruka. Actually, Kakashi seemed to be carrying a stack of school books, which he set on the desk at Iruka's vague wave before retreating to his usual spot of wall and retrieving his book.

Gai noticed that every time Iruka looked in that direction, Kakashi's eye would catch the teacher's for just a fraction of a moment.

Well, well.

* * *

A mere two weeks later, Gai found Kakashi in the Mission Room, leaning against the wall that might as well have his name carved on it after all this time, but without a book in his hands. Instead, Kakashi's chin was curled into his chest, and he looked like a man who had fallen asleep standing up. Gai strode over to stand in front of Kakashi, about to ask why Kakashi was sleeping in the Mission Room rather than in his own bed, when Kakashi whipped out one arm and pushed Gai out of the way. Gai went, taking up his own place against the wall, and then turned towards the desk.

Iruka-sensei was clearly in the midst of a rant. Gai had watched enough of them by now to recognize that this one could run up another notch or two, but it did not look like it would require that Gai remove his students from the room. (Sometimes he wondered why the jounin with genin teams tended to make their students leave the Mission Room when Iruka was on a tear. The man had taught their students for years; surely the genin already knew what Iruka-sensei looked like in a full-on rant.)

So, Kakashi was awake; he had simply found another way to watch Iruka.

"So how long has this been going on?" Gai asked.

Kakashi's eye glinted at him. "About ten minutes. But this is the fourth one today."

Gai thought about collecting his team and going off to train; they could pick up a mission tomorrow.

"He's been in fine form all day, actually," Kakashi added softly. "Fools are filling out the new cover sheets without reading them."

Gai decided that his team would be fine right where they were.

* * *

Gai strode through the door of the Mission Room, intent on making sure no one noticed what was going on in the lounge next door. Kakashi's mission had been a long one, and he deserved a few moments alone with Iruka without any nosey nins watching them. Luckily, Gai knew exactly how to keep attention on himself, and he struck one of his favorite poses two feet behind the head of the Hyuuga clan.

"UNCLE OF MY BELOVED STUDENT!"

As he drew every eye in the room to himself, he decided that if Kakashi and Iruka had reached the point where they were making out next door to the Mission Room, it was time to invite them over for dinner. Even if he had to challenge Kakashi to accept the invitation.


End file.
